Hornets Hype

Now that’s some hot 5:00 shadow action… Is it me, or does the Peja Stojakovic bobblehead look remarkably like Peja? This thing kills me.

The only thing I find to criticize about it is… why is it running? For a guy whose sole job on offense consists of planting himself in his special magic spot in the corner outside the 3 point line, it’s just funny. They should have made it with its arms stretched over its head, looking down to check its feet.

The PejaHead: Tonight only at New Orleans Arena!

Also featuring: $1 beers outside starting at 5:30, the Free Agent Brass Band, and the Utah Jazz’ abysmal 16-22 road record.

I would give you a photo of what the CP3 for MVP t-shirt giveaway looks like, but that thing is so X-Large that if I put it back on, I’m not sure I’ll be able to find my way out of it again… I kid, I kid. That’s it on the left.

We were also (barely) able to score our Chris Paul bobbleheads. They passed out cards with “CP3 MVP” on one side and “GEAUX HORNETS” on the other. I thought they could have done a better job of coordinating that stuff via the PA announcer, but whatever. The fans more or less did all right with it. Chris Paul’s bobblehead doesn’t really look like Chris Paul, but it does have one yellow bracelet and one white. Cute! Just like the real Chris Paul.

As for the game, let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

Ric Flair was there to personally do the “WHOO!” Hornets fell behind early, then blasted their way through the 2nd quarter to take the lead. Hornets and Warriors exchanged runs throughout the second half. CP3 had a triple double on national TV, and really, though it was a rather quiet game for him (SEE? HOW SPOILED ARE WE??? You want to trade your guy’s night for our guy’s quiet 16 pts, 13 ast, 10 reb, and 5 steals? Oh, too bad. You can’t have him), might have just sealed up the MVP right there. Jannero Pargo took over the 2nd quarter and scored 15 points off the bench. David West started out limited but finished strong. Bonzi Wells lounged on the bench and drank Red Bull, while still managing to be great in that strange Bonzi way. Peja was Peja. Hornets rolled 108-96, picking up win #54 and a 2 game cushion for the #1 seed in the West.

Notes on ABC’s coverage:

We DVRed this game just because we had to see for ourselves whether any shitlistings would be imminent. But it’s okay, ABC’s safe. It was probably some of the nicest coverage the Hornets have had recently. (And you think by “nicest,” I mean they talked about us the most. No. I don’t think people who live in other cities truly understand the number of ill-informed cheap shots taken at the city of New Orleans and the team during regular coverage of these games. It’s still happening, and it’s really annoying. So I really do mean “nicest” as in, they were nice.)

• I guess, cool as the Hornets are, they aren’t as cool as Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns, because we never get the parking garage shot of them walking past their expensive black cars into the arena. You know you’ve made it when you get a parking garage shot.
• At the beginning of the game, they did a close-up on Chris Paul stretching, and he started coughing and had to get up because the smoke was in his face.
• There was a massive MVP chant for Chris Paul in the 4th quarter, but they went to commercial break.
• Announcers loved Tyson, called D-West “well, I hesitate to say this, but one of the great players in this league,” and said Peja was back in old-school form.
• ABC agreed with us on the quality of the officiating.
• Pargo got interviewed at halftime. I don’t think they knew where Pargo came from.
• We got to go inside the locker room and hear both coaches discussing their game plan for the second half. Nelson: “We aren’t sticking to the plan. We have to get back to the plan.” What was the Warriors’ plan? … Jacking up threes. No, I’m not kidding. That was it. Now, if you look back to the home game the Hornets lost to the Warriors, you can see why that was the whole plan. But still. That’s it, guys? That’s all ya got? Too bad Golden State was 3 for 29. I don’t know, at some point, I’d have been thinking about… maybe… changing the plan.
• Chris Paul is a bossy little mofo on those Wired segments, isn’t he? “Hey, Coach, please, I gotta play, I swear I’ll take myself out if I need to come out, please!… Coach, D-West and Peja! Why’re they on the bench?” Haha!
• Halftime feature on David West, plus earlier we also got footage of CP’s high school game where he scored 61 points in honor of his grandfather. Then we had Peja’s Fave Five three point shooters. I said, “Is he allowed to say himself?” Wonder no more, because Peja’s Fave Five were Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitzki, and indeed, himself. LOL. Guess so.
• Said they definitely think there’ll be a home advantage come playoff time. Said the city of New Orleans has always brought it for the Saints, and they have no doubt they’ll bring it for the Hornets, because they know how to bring the party.

HypeMeter: ABC figures, the Hornets haven’t dropped out of #1 when everyone thought they would, so why not? Yes! You know you want to throw in with us. Hornets, Hornets, Hornets! We can’t wait to see what happens next, either.

CrowdWatch: 17,809, another sellout, and if it’s good enough for ABC, it’s good enough for me.

The Hornets are so hot right now. Friday’s game clinched a playoff spot and made the front page of the T.P. I thought about it, and I believe this is the best local media showing the Hornets have ever had. I know I haven’t had much reason to bitch at the Times Picayune’s coverage lately, because it’s improved by leaps and bounds over the last two months. The Hornets have claimed space on the front page before, in the box at the top, or on the bottom, or in the side column. But a big color picture like this? First time, baby. The Hornets were THE NEWS yesterday morning.

At the Hive shoots holes in the media’s “Hornets have no playoff experience” argument, complete with graphs and math and stuff. Excellent post to link when someone tries to argue with you. Of course, Sir Chuck was already an idiot for saying that the Hornets “play in a mausoleum.” Better turn your TV to ABC today, there, TNT guys. Get ready for some education.

J.A. Adande thinks we should call the CP3 to TC alley oop “The Big Easy.” I don’t know about that, but they sure do make it look easy…

Sunday Dime, of course, is about the Hornets, since they’re the ABC early game today.

This photo to the left? Why do I have pictures of Bonzi watching random Knicks score? No reason, except that we’re in it. Click to embiggen, then check out the two people next to the dude’s butt underneath the WHERE CHRIS PAUL HAPPENS sign. Oh, hey, folks! Hi!

NBATV just went with us over the Warriors today. Said the Warriors might win if they were at Oracle Arena, but the Hornets are “real strong at home.” Yes. Hear that? The Hornets take a 10-game home win streak into this game.

Tyson Chandler blogs about the CP3 for MVP hype. Proving that the team is just as spoiled as us when it comes to Chris Paul. (“WHAT the hell. He only had 18 points and 12 assists. We woulda put them away so much earlier if CP had had a good game.”)

“It’s funny. I was talking to Jannero the other day, and I was saying that you always turn on the different channels and you get a chance to watch Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett, so you’re a little bit in awe of them. Because you don’t get a chance to see them every day. It’s almost like having that girlfriend that you see every day and you don’t appreciate what you got until you step back and really actually look at things.

We see what CP does every day, so it’s not big to us. But then we actually sit back sometimes and watch his accomplishments, watch what he’s able to do on the floor and what he’s established already as a young player, it’s a little mind-boggling.”

Ready… set… time to show national TV what kind of parties go on at mausoleums here in the N.O.L.A!

As you may know, the NBA once again held their annual Dance Team Bracket, a one-and-out tournament where fans can vote on their favorite dance team through a tournament bracket, whereupon one is declared the ultimate winner. For the third straight year, the Heat Dancers won. But, as this is a site dedicated to hyping the Hornets, we’re going to give a shout out to the Honeybees anyway.

Be it their excellent dance routines (albeit at times to the odd AC-DC dance remix song…), their wave-like undulations in sync with the CP loudspeaker “whoos!”, or just serving up eye candy during other promotions, we visitors to the Hive, and perhaps those of you watching from home like what you give us. Keep it up girls. With any luck, you’ll be doing these things all the way to the NBA finals. Then who will be the winning dance team?

Believe it.

Not that we haven’t had our own version for months, but at the Golden State game on Sunday, everyone at the arena is going to get a CP MVP shirt! And the game’s nationally televised on ABC.

That place is going to look amazing.

And our Hornets are finally back on Friday.

BEST. WEEKEND. EVER.

….

Oh, and by the way, people keep telling me how awesome it was at the airport last night. Melvin Ely, Jannero Pargo, AND Chris Paul getting out and taking pics and signing autographs? I almost died this morning when I saw what we missed. I swear I will go every single time for the rest of the season. Believe me, I so wanted to go. And I get up at 5:30 AM every day of the week. It took an official evaluation BY THE STATE OF LOUISIANA at work today to keep me from going last night. Otherwise, to hell with 5 AM, I’d have been so there.

Damn you, State of Louisiana. Just kidding.

Tyson is a man who has destroyed lesser competition this year and tonight was no different. Miami’s frontcourt, apparently made up of actual NBA players, had no answer for the Bees’ big man. He ended up with 20 points on 10/10 shooting, with 10 rebounds thrown in for giggles. The only disappointing thing is that he had I think 14 at halftime and didn’t even take a shot in the third. Oh well. Much love TC.

….

ticktock6: Is Bonzi chewing gum?

mW: Lots of players chew gum.

ticktock6: You think he was blowing bubbles on the floor when they were playing the Celtics? I’m just saying.

mW: I’m not going to answer that question.

34-19 in the 2nd.

….

Oh god. Gil and Bob discussing buying teal seersucker suits for the playoffs. And I think they’re serious.

The Heat closed for a short time but then the Hornets started playing again.

91-70 in the 4th.

….

LOL at Tyson swinging a towel in circles on the bench and hitting himself in the eye with it. They are gonna show that clip all night. When CST latches onto something, they do not let it go. That shit was made for YouTube.

Plus we actually missed the last minute of play or so because CST thought Chris Paul tossing autographed sneakers into the crowd and other bench hijink was more interesting than the game . . . ummm . . . (sudden silence)

106-77 Final.

….

ESPN, apropos of nothing, during Mavs/Warriors game just now:

“How about the New Orleans Hornets? Wow… blah blah… 52-22… can’t see them finishing out of the Top 2… just a great team… 30 games over .500… great record against the Western Conference too… oh, and Dirk just scored.”

YES, HOW ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS!!!

I have seen enough to know that my job here is done.

Yeah. Hollinger believes this week.

And that’s a perfect metaphor for Tuesday’s game. These guys didn’t go away, and instead they stole a game they had absolutely, positively no business winning. As a result, they’re still shockingly on top of the West — and games like this make it seem increasingly plausible that they’ll hold that spot til the end.

That spot you said they’d lose and end up 5th?

Bandwagoner.

Nah, just kidding. There’s room for you, ESPN! This thing is rolling.

It looks like the trip to Canada did wonders for Mo Pete. Although he only played 24 minutes, he was 2-4 from 3-point range and ended the night with 8. He was aggressive on defense and and got a warm reception from the Air Canada Centre crowd. Then he moved south with the team to Orlando. From the beginning of the game he was hot. Mo ended up leading the Hornets with 19 points, his most since January, on 7-9 shooting overall and 5-6 from 3-point range. In his 32 minutes, he also pulled down 6 rebounds and was hustling on both ends of the floor.

Down the stretch is was Peja’s big shot that put the team ahead, but we wouldn’t even have been in striking distance if it wasn’t for Mo. He made shots throughout the game and kept the team floating when the rest were struggling to hit shots.  So keep it up Mo.  We here at Hornets Hype have faith in you.  We know you are key to our playoff run.  When you’ve been great, so have the Hornets.

We believe.

Hypemeter:  wicked high, after a gut-wrenching series of runs back and forth, the fourth quarter was edge-of-your-seat entertainment, culminating in a huge Hornets’ win!